In today's glamour-conscious society, a person's appearance can greatly impact such factors as social status and economic success. Looking one's best is often a top priority for an individual. Many beautifying treatments have been developed for the treatment of hair, and continue to be developed. These include hair color or bleaching treatments for people who want a different color hair or hair relaxation treatments for people with curly or kinky hair, each of which alters the chemical structure of the hair. In general, the more radical the change in hair appearance, the greater will be the chemical alteration of, and potential damage to, the hair. Those with kinky hair usually have hair that is coarse and unmanageable. To solve the problem they resort to using chemicals to make hair look more like other hair textures, such as curly, wavy, or straight hair.
Most hair textures have a natural moisture called sebum that is useful in protecting the hair. Chemical hair treatments can strip away this natural moisture. For some hair types, such as kinky hair, the natural sebum is not produced at the same levels as other hair types. Thus, when people with kinky hair treat their hair with chemicals, they strip away the small amount of natural sebum that resides on their hair, resulting in the hair becoming dry, dull, frayed, broken, splitted, and damaged over time. Although untreated kinky hair may exhibit some degree of being dry, dull, frayed and broken, treating the hair with chemicals worsens the severity of these characteristics in the hair.
In contrast with kinky hair, other hair types such as curly hair produce a higher amount of natural sebum, and thus the properties of curly hair are sought out by those individuals with kinky hair. Hence, these individuals employ the use of chemicals to treat their hair, without realizing that the chemicals will break down the already small amount of natural sebum in their hair, resulting in the hair becoming even more dry, dull and damaged. Indeed, the damage to the hair as a result of these chemical treatments is permanent, and thus the individual needs to re-grow their hair in its natural state to achieve undamaged hair.
A natural dilemma is encountered by people with kinky hair and who are required by their profession to have well groomed hair. Kinky hair in its natural state is often not preferable in the professional work environment, and thus a permanent chemical relaxer or permanent waving product is often the only solution for taming unruly kinky hair. However, this results in merely a short term solution and long-term irreparable damage to the hair, as discussed above. Indeed, individuals with kinky hair have fewer strands of hair than individuals with other hair types, which is why chemical treatment of the hair results in side effects of the hair looking thin, limp and with no volume or bounce. Another side effect of chemical treatment on hair is loss of the outer cuticle layer, as well as change in the porosity of the hair, which permits moisture to pass out of the hair and water and other chemicals to be absorbed into the hair. Low sebum, thin weak strands, and high porosity are all natural characteristics that describe kinky hair in it natural state.
Hair creams and gels are water based and are absorbed by kinky hair and thus will not create change after being absorbed. If change is to take place, the styling product must sit outside the hair cuticle, and coat the shaft of the hair. This coating would serve to protect the hair cuticle. Since kinky hair has low sebum, it lacks the protection to prevent water and harmful chemicals from being absorbed into the hair quickly and to prevent moisture on the hair to being quickly lost. If sebum were present on the kinky hair, it would naturally protect the hair against absorption of water and harmful agents as well as prevent the loss of moisture on the hair. Other hair textures, such as curly hair, wavy hair and straight hair, have lower porosity, such that applied creams and gels sit outside the hair cuticle and coat the outer hair strands so that moisture is retained and not lost. The sebum in the hair types prevents the loss of moisture and prevents the absorption of water and harmful substances through the hair cuticle.
Conventional methods have been used to vary the style of kinky hair to curly hair, but these methods are temporary. For example, heat styling such as blow-drying, flat ironing, hot combing, and hot curling can allow the hair to become straight temporarily without the use of chemicals. However, heat styling performed on kinky hair, to convert kinky hair to curly hair will only last a couple days and much shorter if the hair is exposed to humidity, rain or a hot shower. Additionally, the heat styling method causes damage over time, since the heat causes split ends and other damage to the hair shaft, resulting in the hair breaking and looking dry. Furthermore, the heat styling appliances can be very expensive and multiple appliances may be needed to do the job.
In order for the hair to be moisturized, free from breakage, strong, protected, smooth, shiny, sleek, and grow it needs a sufficient amount of sebum. Natural sebum is made by the body and secreted through the sebaceous glands beneath our scalp, to provide a natural protection for the hair. Sebum glides from the root down the hair shaft to the tip. The sebum slides down to the hair tip relatively quickly with straight hair, and at a slower rate with wavy and curly hair, since the sebum has to go through several curves to get from the root to the tip. However, little to no sebum reaches the tip of kinky hair, since the sebum has a difficult time traveling on the hair shaft due to its irregular shape. Lack of sebum contributes to the kinky hair being rough, coarse, and unmanageable.